Fifth wheel hitches for towing a trailer behind a towing vehicle, such as a pick-up truck, have long been known in the art. Examples of state of the art fifth wheel hitches include those presently manufactured by Reese Products, Inc., of Elkhart, Ind.
These state of the art fifth wheel hitches include a support frame for mounting the hitch to the towing vehicle, such as, for example, the bed of a pick-up truck. The support frame includes a pair of mounting rails that are bolted to the bed and/or frame of the truck, side brackets that are releasably mounted to the rails and a head support mounted to the side brackets. A head assembly is mounted to the head support by means of a trunnion arrangement allowing fore-and-aft pivotal movement. The head assembly includes a jaw assembly, operable by means of a control handle, that is specifically adapted to releasably engage and hold a king pin of a trailer desired to be towed by the towing vehicle.
While such state of the art fifth wheel hitches provide excellent overall performance and dependable operation, it is believed that improvements in design are still possible. More particularly, under certain operating conditions (e.g., when traversing a hillside in a campground area) it is desirable to provide the head assembly with limited side-to-side pivotal movement capability. Combined fore-and-aft and side-to-side pivotal movement of the head assembly insures smooth towing action under substantially any foreseeable operating conditions.